Wood-type golf club



Nov. 15, 1960 J. G. HAVEY- ETALY I 2,960,338

WOODTYPE GOLF CLUB Filed Aug. 29, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet l I INVENTORS. JOHN G. HAVEY I CHESTER D. BAKER 0 I d BY%,Qm I W A" Nov. 15, 1960 J. a. HAVEY ETAL 2,960,338

WOOD-TYPE cow CLUB Filed Aug. 29. 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5 (PRIOR ART) INVENTORS JOHN G. HAVEY CHESTER D. BAKER ATT'YS WOOD-TYPE GOLF CLUB John G. Havey and Chester D. Baker, Arlington Heights, 111., assignors to Wilson Athletic Goods Mfg. (30., Inc, River Grove, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 758,904

6 Claims. (Cl. 273-81?) This invention relates to wood-type golf clubs that are constructed to provide larger and more effective striking surfaces, more effective ball impact, and more durable construction than presently employed golf clubs of this type.

In a conventional golf club of the type commonly called a wood, a shaft is connected to the wooden head of the club by being secured in a bore near the rear or heel portion of the head. The center of gravity of the club head and the ball-striking surface of the club head are out of alignment with the shaft. The resultant eccentricity produces a torque or twisting action on the shaft both during the swinging of the club and as a result of impact with the ball. It is one object of this invention to eliminate or substantially diminish the twisting action both during the swing and upon impact of the club head with the ball.

When a golf club is swung, centrifugal force causes the center of gravity of the club head to move outward from the center of the swing. In a conventional golf club this effect causes the center of gravity of the club head to move toward a position of axial alignment with the shaft and it results in a downward bowing of the shaft. This effect is also manifested in a vertically downward deflection of the club head at the bottom of the swing so that it is at the wrong angle with respect to the ground at the moment of impact. It is another object of this invention to construct a golf club to minimize vertical deflection of the club head while the club is being swung.

A shaft receiving bore in a conventional wooden head golf club is surrounded by a relatively thin sheath of wood which must hold the head securely onto the shaft. The severe strains encountered in swinging the club and hitting a golf ball frequently cause this thin wooden sheath to crack. It is another object of this invention to both increase the strength of the connection between the head and shaft of a wooden head golf club, and to reduce the physical strain on the connection, thereby to virtually eliminate cracking of the wooden club head at the shaft connection due to physical strain.

The ball-striking surface of conventional golf clubs is not completely usable. When, for example, a golf ball is struck at the toe end of the ball-striking surface on the club head, or the portion farthest from the shaft, the eccentricity is so great that the club tends to turn in the golfers hand resulting in a line of flight of the ball other than that desired. It is equally undesirable to strike the ball With the heel end of the ball-striking surface of the club head. In order to avoid undue weakening of the wood wall surrounding the lower end of the shaft of a conventional wood club head, the striking surface must terminate forward of the heel. It is another object of this invention to provide a club head in which the actual and the effective areas of the ball-striking surface of the club head are increased without unduly di- 2,959,33 Patented Nov. 15, 1960 minishing the thickness of the wood surrounding the shaft, so asv to weaken the club head structure.

These and other objects are attained by our novel construction of a wooden golf club head in which the shaft is connected to the club head at a. conventional angle, but wherein the end of said shaft is closely adjacent a line passing perpendicular to the sole of the club head and through the center of gravity thereof. It has been found that, if the center of the shaft tip is a distance of not more than 12% of the major dimension of the club head measured from heel to toe, from the line passing through the center of gravity, the beneficial objects described above will be obtained. In club heads of conventional size and shape, the beneficial objects of this invention are attained by placing the center of the shaft tip within /2 inch of the beforementioned line through the center of gravity.

The objects of this invention are also obtained by incorporating a weight, in the form of a concentrated mass of material, the center of gravity of which is not farther than 7% of the major dimension distant from the center of gravity of the club head with said weight assembled therein. The weight is preferably a cylindrical piece of lead embedded in a drilled hole in the club head behind the striking surface.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of a golf club embodying the features of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary bottom view of the golf club pictured in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on a line 33 in Fig. 2, and in the direction indicated by arrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary bottom view of a conventional golf club, acknowledged as prior art; and

Fig. 5 is a side sectional view of the conventional golf club of Fig. 4, taken substantially on a line 55 of Fig. 4 and in the direction of the arrows.

The exemplary embodiment of our golf club which is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 has a wood head 10 which is shaped to provide a ball-striking surface 11 and a hosel in the form of a hollow extension 13 for receiving a shaft 16. The club head 10, of the disclosed structure, has an inlaid ball-striking plate 12 of some hard, durable material such as plastic, secured to the club head by fastening means, such as screws 14. This club, like most other wood clubs, also has a sole plate 15 secured to the bottom thereof to protect and improve the wearing qualities of the bottom surface of the club, as well as to conceal and aid in retaining a weight 19 which is usually made of lead. The sole plate 15, as disclosed, is inlaid into a correspondingly shaped recess and secured in place on the club head 10 by fastening means, such as screws 18. Shaft 16 has a grip 17 of leather, rubber, or other suitable material extending along the end portion opposite the head.

Figs. 2 and 3 show that in the club head of this invention, the tip of shaft 16, the center of gravity of the club head, which is on a line 20, and weight 19 are all in close proximity to one another. The center of gravity of the weight is within a distance of 7% of the major dimension of the club head from a line extending perpendicular to the bottom surface of the head and through the center of gravity of said club head. The close proximity of the tip of shaft 16 and the center of gravity of the club head, as designated by the line 20 passing therethrough, minimizes torque while the club is being swung and the close proximity of these with the weight 3 19 produces a center of impact directly and immediately behind the ball-striking plate 12.

Deviations in the position along surface 11, at which the ball is struck, either toward the toe or heel of the club head from the center of impact, will result in minimum torque on the shaft and tendency for the club head to be deflected, and accordingly, the club head construction herein illustrated increases the area of the striking surface 11 which may be effectively used without causing ball flight to be unduly deflected from the intended path as a result of turning of the head at impact.

Reducing torque both during the swing and at the time of impact between the club head and the ball will, of course, substantially reduce the strain on the connection between shaft 16 and club head 10. In addition to reducing the strain on the connection, the club head of this invention connects to shaft 16 in themassive portion of the club head rather than at a thin-walled recess as in a conventional golf club such as that illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. By having a stronger connection that is subject to less strain, the golf club of our invention virtually eliminates cracking of club heads due to physical strain, even though the ball striking surface is placed far enough into the wood of the head to be materially extended from end to end.

Contrasting the club head of our invention with conventional club heads of the prior art, as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, it may first be noticed that, instead of the close coincidence of the shaft tip, center of gravity and weight which are characteristic of the club of Figs. 1-3, these are horizontally aligned and spaced apart in the club of Figs. 4 and 5. It is obvious from their relative positions, and from the large distance between the tip of shaft 16 and the center of gravity 20 in the club of Figs. 4 and 5 that a substantial twisting action on the shaft, and on the connection between the shaft and the club head, will be encountered when the club is swung. Impact with the ball, even at the center of gravity, will produce even more torque relative to the shaft, and hitting the ball near the toe of the club head will produce so much torque that it will frequently turn the club in the players hand. Figs. 4 and 5 also illustrate the relative thinness of the wall of wood that forms the hosel and surrounds the shaft-receiving recess. The thinness of this wall not only forms a weak connection between the head and shaft, but it is inadvisable to cut the ball-striking surface more deeply into the club head so as thereby to produce a thinner wall and further weaken the connection.

Phantom dot-dash lines Q1 indicate projections of the ball-striking surface on the cross-sections of the club heads in Figs. 3 and 5. It may be seen by comparing these figures that the ball-striking surface of the club head of our invention, as shown in Fig. 3, is extended almost to the rear extremity of the club head whereas the corresponding area is severely limited by the position of shaft 16 in the conventional club, as indicated by Fig. 5. Actually, it has been found that the lengths of the ball-striking surfaces on the various wood clubs can be increased by from four to thirteen percent and, at a minimum, the ball-striking surface may extend inch beyond the perpendicular projection of the shaft on the ball-striking surface, in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shaft. The advantages of a larger ballstn'king surface are too apparent to require further explanation.

Another advantage which is inherent in the construction of our golf club head is that the end of shaft 16 is beneath sole plate 15. By falling beneath sole plate 15, the end of shaft 16 is protected and it is also hidden from view, thereby eliminating the necessity of an expensive finishing process to improve the appearance of this part of the assembled club.

From the foregoing description and references to the accompanying drawings, it may be readily understood that we have produced a wood-type golf club wherein the shaft extends from the club head at a normal or conventional angle, but in which the shaft bore in the head is placed in the heavier part of the head, thereby to bring the lower tip of the shaft to a position closely adjacent a vertical line extending through the center of gravity of the club head and to a position in which it is covered and protected by the sole plate. In so doing, it has also been found that the ball-striking surface can be out back into the club head sufficiently to materially extend its length above normal without either weakening the connection of the club head to the shaft or producing undesirable torque during the swing or at impact with the ball.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a wood-type golf club including a shaft, and a head having toe and heel portions and a hosel extending upwardly from the heel portion at a conventional angle, said head being gored through the hosel to receive the shaft and having bottom and ball-striking surfaces in angular relationship to one another, weight means secured internally of the mid-portion of the head adjacent the bottom surface thereof, and a sole plate inset into the mid-portion of the bottom of the head between the toe and heel thereof and secured thereto in flush relationship to said bottom surface, the combination being characterized by the bottom end of said weight means, the bottom end of the shaft bore and a line drawn perpendicular to said bottom surface through the center of gravity of the head being closely adjacent one another and covered by the sole plate with a line through the center of gravity of the weight means perpendicular to the sole and said line through said center of gravity of said club head both falling between said shaft tip and the toe of said club head.

2. In a wood-type golf club including a shaft, and a head having toe and heel portions and a hosel extending upwardly from the head at a conventional angle, said head being bored through the hosel to receive the shaft and having bottom and ball-striking surfaces in angular relationship to one another, and a sole plate inset into the mid-portion of the bottom of the head between the toe and heel thereof, and secured thereto in flush relationship to said bottom surface, the combination being characterized by the bottom end of the axis of the shaft bore and a line drawn perpendicular to said bottom surface through the center of gravity of the head being within 12% of the major dimension of the head to one another and covered by the sole plate.

3. In a wood-type golf club as defined in claim 2, the the combination being further characterized by the ballstriking surface extending rearwardly toward the heel to a position such that it crosses planes tangent to the surfaces of the shaft bore and perpendicular to the ballstriking surface.

4. In a wood-type golf club including a shaft having grip and tip ends, and a head having toe and heel portions and a hosel extending upwardly from the head at a conventional angle, said head being bored through the hosel to receive the shaft and having bottom and ballstriking surfaces in angular relationship to one another, the combination being characterized by the axis of the lower end of the shaft-receiving bore being located not more than A2 inch from a line extending in perpendicular relationship to the bottom surface of the head through the center of gravity of the head.

5. In a wood-type golf club including a shaft having grip and tip ends, and a head having toe and heel portions and a hosel extending upwardly from the head at a conventional angle, said head being bored through the hosel to receive the shaft and having bottom and ball-striking surfaces in angular relationship to one another, the combination being characterized by the axis of the lower end of the shaft-receiving bore being located not more than /2 inch from a line extending in perpendicular relationship to the bottom surface of the head through the center of gravity of the head and said ball-striking surface extending into the heel area a distance at least /8 inch beyond and in a direction perpendicular to a plane passing perpendicular to said ball-striking surface and through the axis of said bore.

6. In a wood-type golf club including a shaft having grip and tip ends, and a head having toe and heel portions and a hosel extending upwardly from the head at a conventional angle, said head being bored through the hosel to receive the shaft and having bottom and ballstriking surfaces in angular relationship to one another, the combination being characterized by the axis of the lower end of the shaft-receiving bore being located not more than /2 inch from a line extending in perpendicular relationship to the bottom surface of the head through the center of gravity of the head, a concentrated weight embedded within said head, the center of gravity of said weight being within a distance of 7% of the major dimension of said club head from said line through the center of gravity of said club head, and said ball-striking surface extending into the heel area a distance at least of an inch beyond and in a direction perpendicular to the plane passing perpendicular to said ball-striking surface and through the axis of said bore.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 976,267 Knight Nov. 22, 1910 1,683,639 Vaile Sept. 11 1928 1,703,199 McClure Feb. 26, 1929 1,841,062 Schavoir Jan. 12, 1932 2,067,556 Wettlaufer Ian. 12, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 346,671 Great Britain 1931 380,260 Great Britain 1932 440,379 Great Britain 1935 

